You're missing out if you haven't hopped aboard the poke craze yet

It's about time you go crazy over poke, like Jordan Andino, the chef at 2nd City, a Filipino restaurant. (Barbara Alper/for New York Daily News)

Some food trends take the slow-poke route to success. Not so for poke. Lately, the appearance of this delicious raw fish dish from Hawaii has swelled as dramatically as a peak wave at Waikiki.

Over the last few years, poke restaurants and stands have been popping up in L.A. and San Francisco seemingly every week. Now the trend has struck New York, and even Boston.

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I've always been a huge fan of raw fish dishes, but none so finely combine the crispness of a salad with the freshness of the sea. For years, I'd heard about the dish, so its spread to New York has satisfied a fantasy.

New York's first all-poke place, Sons of Thunder, debuted in Murray Hill last October. Then, in January, Pokeworks (a national franchise) sprang up across town, near Herald Square. From there, the dish spread like a Hawaiian lava flow through restaurants like Gotham Poke, Wisefish Poke, 2nd City, Flame, Simple, Onomea, and Chikarashi (the newest, and best, of the bunch).

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If you're going to have poke, might as well do it at Chikarashi, which offers some of Manhattan's best versions. (Barbara Alper/for New York Daily News)

"I've been surprised by how quickly poke has taken off," says Drew Crane, who opened Wisefish Poke in Chelsea five months ago. "At first, people didn't even know how to pronounce it. Now people are becoming familiar."

Drew Crane, co-founder of Wisefish Poké in Chelsea, shows off a bowl of "Hawaii Style" poke, made with ahi tuna, sweet onion hijiki, and scallions. (Barbara Alper/for New York Daily News)

By the way, in case you didn't know, it's pronounced "po-kay."

And if you're into salmon rolls, you'll probably like poke.

"It's a short leap from sushi to poke," says Michael Jong Lim, chef at Chikarashi, located in Chinatown on Canal St. "The world is bombed with sushi places. This is something different."

For one thing, poke comes in a bowl. It also features a different cut of fish from sushi, based on meaty chunks rather than long, thick strips. ("Poke" actually means to cut crosswise in Hawaiian). The traditional version of the dish involved clumps of leftover salmon, tuna, or fluke, mixed with alaea salt (it's mixed with volcanic clay), limu seaweed and local crushed nuts. Yet, over time, influences from Korea, China, and especially Japan, came into play. These days, there's usually a soy based marinade for the fish, while the wonder wheel of possible ingredients often involves familiar Asian foods, like nori, panko, wasabi and wontons, as well as more exotic ones, like sansho (Japanese pepper), shiso (a mint-like herb), and negi (an onion native to China).

Chef Michael Jong Lim of Chikarashi has mastered making poke. (Barbara Alper/for New York Daily News)

At most poke restaurants, diners choose their own variations on the dish. First, they select a base. That can be rice (brown, white or sometimes vinegared sushi-style), greens (as ordinary as a mescaline mix, or as adventurous as varieties of Asian leaves), or zucchini noodles (for the Paleo-crazed). From there, you pick a protein. Most often it's salmon, tuna or fluke, but sometimes octopus, or even non-oceanic foods like chicken or tofu. For crunch, diners select toppings like sesame seeds, sweet onions, hijiki (brown sea vegetable) or garlic chips. "People love the customizable aspect of it," Crane says.

They're also drawn to the ease, and portability, of the poke bowl. Food swirled in bowls has become an increasing trend over the years, though Pokeworks also offers one whimsical alternative. They have a burrito-like option, with fish in the center, crowded by rice and other colorful ingredients, and bound by seaweed to create a gigantic, temaki-like hand roll.

While the sushi-in-a-bowl aspect makes poke sound a lot like Japanese chirashi, the Hawaiian take features different ingredients and a generally brighter flavor profile. Poke also contrasts other raw fish dishes, like Peru's take (ceviche), which uses a citrus base to give it more acidity, or Tahiti's poisson cru, which uses a coconut milk marinade, making it sweet. Poke also stands out through its uniquely chunky texture, distinct from the slivers of Italian crudo, the shards of Scandinavian gravlox, or the bits in Japanese nigiri.

Taken together, all that puts this dish a cut above.

A Poke Sampling

- Chikarashi (227 Canal St., 646-649-5965)

You don't choose your mix here. Chef Michael Lim, who previously worked at high-toned places like Masa and Aldea, offers six finely curated bowls. Each offers an ideal balance of flavors, while featuring far finer ingredients than most others.